3 days ago

With an onslaught of coverage devoted to the new season and players to come, it can be easy to lose sight of the game’s storied past that made fans and followers out of so many of us to begin with. Sunday night was a time for the game to honor its illustrious history with the induction of some of the sport’s most beloved players, coaches and contributors, into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City. This year’s inductees included Chris Mullin, James Worthy, Ralph Sampson and Cazzie Russell as players, BobKnight and Eddie Sutton as coaches, and contributors Eddie Einhorn and Joe Vancisin. In a ceremony emceed by Dick Enberg, one of the classic voices of college hoops and Sports Illustrated contributing writer Seth Davis, the Class of 2011 was enshrined. A recap of RTC’s coverage comes after the jump.

The National Collegiate Basketball Hall Of Fame Added Some Highly Impressive Names To Its Membership Sunday Night

Arizona freshman and surefire lottery pick Jerryd Bayless also declared his intention to go pro. He averaged 20/4 assts last season, and never got a chance to play for the coach who recruited him, Lute Olson.

Another one-and-done, Indiana’s Eric Gordon, is also leaving school for the NBA Draft. This surprises absolutely nobody, and leaves IU in rough shape for next season (although Armon Basssett reportedly wants to speak with Crean about rejoining the Hoosiers).

Not Knight. Texas assistant coach Ken McDonald will take over as the head man at Western Kentucky next season. The speculation re: Knight was fun while it lasted.

Another HOF induction for Dick Vitale – this time the National Collegiate Basketball HOF. As much as we rail this guy, we really have no problem with this. His influence on the sport (both good and bad) has been immeasurable.

Finally, we’re still reeling from that sicknasty dunk that CDR threw on Kevin Love yesterday. Some enterprising souls have already put it up on Youtube – somehow the foreign announcers makes it even more exciting.